Abstract
In September 2018, the United Nations General Assembly held the first ever meeting
to discuss the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and adopted a political declaration
titled “United to end tuberculosis: an urgent global response to a global epidemic.”
The timing of the meeting was prescient but overdue since Mycobacterium tuberculosis surpassed the human immunodeficiency virus as the world's leading infectious killer
in 2014. Infection of the central nervous system by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, herein referred to as neurotuberculosis, is the most feared and dangerous form of
tuberculosis, requiring a high level of suspicion and clinical experience for prompt
diagnosis and treatment. Neurologists, infectious disease specialists, orthopedic
surgeons, neurosurgeons, and hospitalists in all countries need to recognize the spectrum
of neurotuberculosis and be able to integrate clinical information, laboratory data,
and radiological findings to make a diagnosis with or without microbiological confirmation.
Keywords
tuberculosis - meningitis - cerebrospinal fluid - HIV - Xpert
